Burying the Hatchet
by BloodyMassive
Summary: A series of AU drabbles featuring Skinner and Pearl in 2012
1. Of all the Gin Joints in the World

**Of all the Gin Joints in the World you had to Pick a Cafe?**

* * *

The smell of coffee hits her hard when she enters the café. It might have been overwhelming to her more than human senses at one time but now it's just a pleasantly familiar smell. It's noon and the line for coffee is long, not to mention the barista looks a little harried behind the counter, so she takes a seat at one of the empty tables in the corner, her back to the wall.

Opening up her book bag she takes out her laptop and starts going over the news on her home page. She scrolls past the London Olympics coverage and go straight for an article on this years upcoming election.

She only manages to read the first few sentences of the article she'd chosen since he's decided not to make her wait.

"Pearl Preston, as I live and breath."

Pearl takes her time looking up from the laptop because she still hates him with a burning passion. She can still see him standing over Henry's corpse, smirk tilting his lips, the words 'We're even now,' ringing in her ears. It didn't matter that Henry was on death's door step at the time, she had hope and he'd crushed it under his heel.

He's holding out a cup of coffee to her like a peace offering, but that same smirk quirked his lips now. His blue eyes are locked on to her with that terrible calculating gaze of his causing the hackles on the back of her neck to rise. She takes the coffee anyway and puts it down on the table with out drinking it to make a point.

"What do you want Sweet?"

"Oh dolly are you still mad at me? Now you know you had it coming after what you did in Taipan, but hell, I was really doing old Hank a favor anyway. If you'd had your way he'd have been a vegetable for the last of his days. Not a very good death if you ask me."

He takes a sip of his own coffee and leans a few inches toward her, all friendly and open posture. The fangs behind her teeth begin to ache, and her finger nails begging to extend into claws because she wants to rip his eyes out. He chuckles and lays his hand down close enough for her to feel the heat of his skin, but not close enough to touch. She doesn't say anything, just glares at him and hopes he makes his point soon.

"Alright, you go on being angry then," he says as he waves a hand and rolls his eyes, "But I have some real good news you might find yourself interested in."

"You said as much in the email," she replies dryly; she still doesn't know why she came here, this is probably a trap.

His grin goes wide, teeth bared in a feral smile as he leans back in the chair, "I brought you a present."

Hattie bursts through the front window of the café causing glass to fly everywhere and people to panic. She's fully vamped out, teeth bared and claws extended like she's out for blood. The patrons are scrambling and screaming to get away from her, though she pays them no mind. She only has eyes for her.

"Skinner!" Pearl's voice comes out as an accusatory growl. She looks back at him and he's still grinning but now it looks sheepish.

"Now you know me better than that dolly, if I wanted to kill you I'd do it myself. I just thought I'd put a little peace offering between us, after all, it has been a good fifty years... By the way, I thought you might like to know that old scar face here is the one who organized the attack on Hank all those years ago."

Her eyes widen and gaze shifts to the angry red head stomping toward her. In an instant Pearl's eyes flash golden and claws extend, but she stalls for one second to address him, "I still don't forgive you, but this is a good start."

Then she grabbed the table and threw it at Hattie's head.


	2. Heres to Plain Speaking

**Here's to Plain Speaking and Clear Understanding with Fangs and Teeth Bared**

* * *

They lounge together on the couch in his apartment with a cigarette shared between them, it's the only one that survived the crushed pack during the fight. They're both a bit battered and bloody after taking Hattie out, but she has to say that it felt good to let loose. It's been a while.

She stretches out like a cat and can feel his eyes tracking her every little movement. A smile of amusement twitches across her lips before she turns to take the cigarette from his offering hand. She takes a long drag and then lets it out slowly, the taste of tobacco lingering on her tongue.

Their hands graze as she hands it back and there's a flare of heat where skin meets skin. It's a reminder of where they stand, though she admits that there has always been some unnamed thing between them, there is something that has always kept them apart. Henry, The Vassals, him killing her husband…

She shakes her head at the last thought and it's on mostly steady legs she rises from the couch and heads for his bathroom to shower. He quickly grabs on to her wrist with a light grip and she pauses to turn back to him.

"Where you going?" He asks nonchalantly, his thumb stroking at the inside of her wrist.

She pulls her arm loose from his hand at the touch and tilts her head toward the restroom door, "Going to shower."

He nods and sprawls out on the couch, the perfect picture of a languid disheveled mess. His short hair is sticking up every which way and his shirt is torn and covered in blood, most of it not his, but he looks good. Now she's the one staring at him, and it's that simple thought that is enough to turn her away.

When she reaches the bathroom door she stops with her hand hovering over the knob and turns back to face him again, "Oh, and don't think you can just start casually touching me whenever you want because we worked together, we aren't friends yet, Skinner."

He responds with a low laugh and, shifting around on the couch, comes up to lean on one elbow to get a better look at her. "Could have fooled me with how chummy we've been."

"You know I'm more dangerous than you give me credit for Sweet. I managed to kill you once, I know I can do it again." She aims to be somewhat playful, but his eyes flash with something dangerous. There's a long bought of silence as his lips slowly crack into a dark smile that makes her heart jump against the confines of her chest, but he makes no move to come after her.

"That's because you cheated dolly, not only did you bring a knife to a fang fight but you caught me by surprise. That won't happen next time, and if you try it again I'll rip out your fucking throat and laugh as I watch you struggle to breathe."

It's not a threat, just a simple statement.

Blue eyes meet blue eyes in a tense stare down. He is the first to break it, leaning over to stub out the cigarette on the coffee table ashtray after taking one more long pull off it. She stares after him for a few seconds then quietly opens and shuts the bathroom door behind her.


End file.
